Hanoi (VNA) - Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) agreed on May 4 to establish a regional 80 billion USD foreign reserve swap facility.
The total size of the multilateralised facility would be at least 80 billion USD with Japan, China and the RoK contributing 80 percent, while ASEAN countries would pay for the remaining, according to a joint statement from the finance chiefs after concluding a meeting under the framework called ASEAN+3 in Madrid the same day.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank’s annual summit in Madrid .
A regional financing arrangement initiative, known as Qing Mai Initiative (CMI), is currently in place between the 13 countries to swap foreign exchange reserves, mainly on bilateral basis, in order for use when necessary to fight against speculative attacks on their currencies.
Established in 2000, the CMI was aimed at preventing a recurrence of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
The multilateralised CMI facility is the next step in the initiative, as was mapped out at the last ASEAN+3 meeting of finance ministers in Japan's Kyoto last year, which would be a move from the previous bilateral system to a multilateral one.- Enditem
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